Taking Liberties

The War on Terror and the Erosion of American Democracy

Susan N. Herman

Powerful account of how civil liberties have rapidly eroded in post-9/11 America

Authored by the President of the ACLU, the book features numerous stories of ordinary people caught in the government's surveillance dragnet

Explains that the state of emergency has continued into the Obama administration, and shows why we must remain vigilant if we are to hold on to our age-old freedoms

Taking Liberties

The War on Terror and the Erosion of American Democracy

Susan N. Herman

Description

In this eye-opening work, the president of the ACLU takes a hard look at the human and social costs of the War on Terror. Over a decade after 9/11, it is far from clear that the government's hastily adopted antiterrorist tactics--such as the Patriot Act--are keeping us safe, but it is increasingly clear that these emergency measures in fact have the potential to ravage our lives--and have already done just that to countless Americans.

From the Oregon lawyer falsely suspected of involvement with terrorism in Spain to the former University of Idaho football player arrested on the pretext that he was needed as a "material witness" (though he was never called to testify), this book is filled with unsettling stories of ordinary people caught in the
government's dragnet. These are not just isolated mistakes in an otherwise sound program, but demonstrations of what can happen when our constitutional protections against government abuse are abandoned. Whether it's running a chat room, contributing to a charity, or even urging a terrorist group to forego its violent tactics, activities that should be protected by the First Amendment can now lead to prosecution. Blacklists and watchlists keep people grounded at airports and strand American citizens abroad, although these lists are rife with errors--errors that cannot be challenged. National Security Letters allow the FBI to demand records about innocent people from libraries, financial institutions, and internet service providers without ever going to court. Government databanks now brim
with information about every aspect of our private lives, while efforts to mount legal challenges to these measures have been stymied.

Barack Obama, like George W. Bush, relies on secrecy and exaggerated claims of presidential prerogative to keep the courts and Congress from fully examining whether these laws and policies are constitutional, effective, or even counterproductive. Democracy itself is undermined. This book is a wake-up call for all Americans, who remain largely unaware of the post-9/11 surveillance regime's insidious and continuing growth.

Chapter 9 John Doe and the National Security LetterWhy National Security Letters?John Doe and Victor
MarreroLoosening the GagFourth Amendment Rights for NSL RecipientsFirst Amendment Rights for Internet Users The Inspector General Exposés 2007-2010National Security Letters, the Fourth Amendment, and Congress

Chapter 11 American Democracy - The President, the Congress, and the CourtsThe View from the Oval Office - From Bush to Obama and BeyondThe Sleeping WatchdogSecrecy and the CourtsThe Eclipse of the
Courts

ConclusionOrdinary AmericansRestoring Balance

Taking Liberties

The War on Terror and the Erosion of American Democracy

Susan N. Herman

Author Information

Susan N. Herman became president of the American Civil Liberties Union in 2008 after serving on its national board for twenty years. A constitutional scholar and chaired professor at Brooklyn Law School, she is the co-editor (with Paul Finkelman) of Terrorism, Government, and Law and the author of The Right to a Speedy and Public Trial.

Taking Liberties

The War on Terror and the Erosion of American Democracy

Susan N. Herman

Reviews and Awards

Winner of the 2012 Roy C. Palmer Civil Liberties Prize

"Taking Liberties offers a compelling case that the basic constitutional protections most Americans take for granted, including the rights to free speech, a fair trial and due process, as well as freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures, were seriously compromised after 9/11 as a result of the government's well-meaning but ill-conceived efforts to safeguard the country against another attack. . . [P]ersuasively fair and reasonable . . . A valuable contribution to the growing body of literature regarding the War on Terror's impact on our constitutional rights." --Kirkus Reviews

"This smart and passionate book shows how we as Americans - and not our faceless enemies - have the most to lose from the erosion of our civil liberties since 9/11. By showing what has happened to real people, Susan Herman offers the wake-up call we need to regain our perspective and reclaim our values." - Linda Greenhouse

"'If you don't do anything wrong, you don't have anything to worry about.' This phrase is destined to be with us for all time, kept alive by the same people who cheerfully volunteer that they are willing to trade some 'liberty for security.' Susan N. Herman's new book, Taking Liberties: The War on Terror and the Erosion of Democracy, provides a sharp rebuttal to this compliant mind-set that gave the government more power over the rest of us . . . [A] great catalog of personal injustice anecdotes, with story after story of people who don't do anything wrong yet have plenty to worry about-they get deported, imprisoned without charge, tortured . . . In addition to compiling all these outrages in one handy place, Taking Liberties does quite a good job of detailing the
mechanics of the laws, policies, and procedures that created this havoc and in most cases made legal redress unattainable."
--Reason

"The prosecutions on the basis of 'contribution of expertise' should be of particular professional interest to sociologists." --ontemporary Sociology

Taking Liberties

The War on Terror and the Erosion of American Democracy

Susan N. Herman

From Our Blog

By Susan Herman
Post-9/11 surveillance measures have made it far too easy for the government to review our personal and business records, telephone and e-mail conversations, and virtually all aspects of our lives. For example, Under the so-called 'library provision' of the